Waitangi Tribunal calls on Govt to reconsider Māori health authority after Treaty ‘breaches’

Health Minister Dr Shane Reti led the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Waitangi Tribunal is calling on the Government to reconsider creating a stand-alone Māori health entity after it deemed the repeal of the Māori Health Authority breached Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

In a report released today, tribunal presiding officer Judge Damian Stone argued the Government’s disestablishment of the authority in June breached several principles of the Treaty of Waitangi by not engaging with Māori as treaty partners and failing to conduct a “robust policy process”.

Stone outlined the tribunal’s recommendations, including revisiting the option of a “stand-alone Māori health authority”, consulting with Māori as alternative plans were developed and committing to “proper regulatory impact analysis in matters that affect Māori health”.

The report was addressed to Health Minister Dr Shane Reti, Māori/Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka and associate health ministers David Seymour, Matt Doocey and Casey Costello.

Reti is expected to face questions on the tribunal’s findings at a media stand-up this afternoon.

Following the 2023 election, the coalition Government committed to scrapping the authority, which was introduced in 2022 under the previous Labour Government.

In his report, Stone said the authority - also known as Te Aka Whai Ora - gave Māori a form of self-governance within the health sector and was considered an “innovative mechanism” for Māori to participate in decision-making concerning Māori health.

“Although it was part of the wider public health and disability system established and funded by the Crown, it was seen as a means of expressing tino rangatiratanga and was a practical measure to give effect to the ‘by Māori, for Māori’ vision at the structural level,” he said.

Legislation to disestablish Te Aka Whai Ora was introduced in late February and passed through the House in early March. The entity was formally scrapped in June.

The tribunal’s inquiry found the decision breached Te Tiriti’s principles of tino rangatiratanga, good government, partnership, active protection and redress.

“The Tribunal found that the policy process the Crown followed to disestablish Te Aka Whai Ora was a departure from conventional and responsible policymaking in several concerning ways,” the report said.

“The Crown did not act in good faith when disestablishing Te Aka Whai Ora as it did not consult or engage with Maaori, nor did it gather substantive advice from officials.”

Stone wrote the Government had made an “ill-informed decision” that did not consider “grave Māori health inequities”.

“Instead, the Crown implemented its own agenda – one that was based on political ideology, rather than evidence, and one that fell well short of a Tiriti/Treaty consistent process.”

Stone hoped the report would inform the Government’s alternative Māori health plans, which he believed would be announced in December.

“Once the Crown’s alternative plans for Maaori health have been announced, we intend to hold hearings and inquire into them as soon as practicable.”

In a press release marking the introduction of the legislation to dissolve the authority, Reti voiced his opposition to “bureaucratic structures” and his support for decisions being made “closer to the community, to the home and the hapū”.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.